Board to hire new top prosecutor Tuesday

OREGON – After advertising the position for fewer than 3 full days, Ogle County Board Chairman Kim Gouker said members likely will name a new state’s attorney at their meeting Tuesday.

The state Supreme Court appointed State’s Attorney Ben Roe to replace retiring Ogle County Resident Circuit Judge Michael Mallon on Nov. 8, 2 days after Roe won reelection to his third term.

In a news release emailed Monday, Gouker said he would ask the Ogle County Bar Association to notify its members via email of the vacancy; the deadline to apply via email is noon today.

Applicants will be interviewed at his office Thursday in the order in which the emails were received, he said in the release.

The release also mentioned notifying “local media;” one such outlet, Sauk Valley Media’s sister paper, Ogle County Newspapers, publishes once a week on Wednesdays.

What other media were notified was not available Tuesday night. A call to Gouker at 8 p.m. was not returned.

The board is taking advantage of email technology to accelerate the selection process, which must be ramped up because the new state’s attorney needs to be in place by the time Roe is sworn in on Jan. 7, Gouker said in the release.

“Any recommendation I make to the county board needs to be approved by a majority vote, and while I could make the recommendation myself, I promised the board when elected their chairman that I would always deal with them openly and inclusively.

“So, I have asked my vice chairman and three other county board members to assist in the process of interviewing applicants, and making a replacement recommendation to the county board.”

After the interviews, he, Vice Chairman John Finfrock of Mount Morris and board members Greg Sparrow and Bruce McKinney of Rochelle and Bill Welty of Chana will prepare a recommendation that will be presented to the board Tuesday, Gouker said in the release.

The new state’s attorney will fill the remainder of the first 2 years of Roe’s 4-year term. After that, there will be a special vote during the next general election, on Nov. 4, 2014, to fill the remaining 2 years.